Shortly after I began role playing, I discovered Palladium Books. I started with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Other Strangeness. Then it was Robotech and Ninjas and Superspies. Shockingly, it wasn’t until much later I got into Palladium’s flagship franchise, Rifts. Rifts is an unique blend of sci-fi and Fantasy that lets magic and technology do battle against each other and/or exist side by side. It’s a rich world with a large library of supplemental material in its twenty-two year existence. With all that material, there is one staple of role playing games that is missing: the GM screen. Palladium Books did release one back in 1996, but that is long out of print. Since that time Rifts has been screenless, so a Rifts Game Master often found themselves flipping through their books, looking for charts or cobbling together a homemade GM Screen. Those days may be over, with the release of the Rifts GM Kit. The Rifts GM Kit provides a slew of forms, charts and character sheets to aid a Rifts game master, as well as including twenty pre-generated characters. At a cost of only five dollars, it’s cheaper than your standard GM screen. The question is how useful is the content? Will spending five dollars greatly help the Rifts GM? Let’s find out as we take a closer look at the Rifts GM Kit.

Two of the most useful items in the Rifts GM Kit, is the Game Master Reference Sheet and the Combat Matrix. The Game Master Reference Sheet is a one page full of the more essential information in running a Rifts game. You have that Attribute Chart listing the various attribute bonuses. A chart detailing magic casting time and casting magic while wearing body armor is also presented. For me, the most important pieces of information, are the details on ranged combat and missile volleys. In the Palladium system, you have many different options during ranged combat: aimed shoots, called shots, shooting bust, and shooting wild among many more. Each has a different modifier to hit and having to reference this information in the game book can bog down combat. Having all this information listing in one place is so convenient and will make any GMs life easier. Also on this sheet is a quick reference list to other information that a GM may need this reference quickly during a game. Be aware, that the page numbers listed are for Rifts Ultimate Edition. So owners of the the 1st Edtion version of Rifts, best ignore this section otherwise you’ll be really confused as you look for page 363 in your 256 page book.

Now the Combat Matrix is a form that allows a GM to easily keep track of combat. In Rifts, in is not uncommon to have four, five, or even six actions in a given combat round. When you you have five players doing combat with five NPCs that can easily sixty different things happening in one round of combat. So keeping track of initiative, and the number of remaining actions a character has is essential. The combat chart allows you to easily keep track of each character’s actions, and have essential information for each NPC at your fingertips. Thanks to the universal nature of the Palladium game system; this chart can be used in any other Palladium game. I will definitely be using this chart next time I run Robotech or Ninjas and Superspies.

The next items involve skills and weapon proficiencies. A quick reference list of all the skills in Rifts and the base percentage and percent increased with level advancement is provided and all I can say is thank you. The skills portion is one of the more time consuming parts of character creation. Because so much time is spent flipping between pages, looking up skills and their success percentage. Having all of this information in a handy sheet is so useful. Now instead of pulling out my game book, I can refer to this sheet. Anything that helps reduce the amount of time looking formation up in a book is a good thing. The same thing applies to the weapon proficiencies well. All are listed out with their level advancements. With these two charts, I can quickly generate an NPC on the fly instead of having to consult the book, to determine what the base skill percentage is for Herding Cattle.

You’ll also find an index of all the spells in the Rifts Books of Magic. All of this information is freely available on the Palladium Books website, but it is nice to have it formatted in a more user friendly format.
The next item is a character sheet for Borg characters. Borgs have a variety of of cybernetics and bionic enhancements that do not easily fit into a standard character sheet. This Borg sheet as an illustration of a borg and separate boxes for each body part that can have an enhancement, as well as a sport for the M.D.C of each body part. Instead of having a slew of notes scribbled on the standard character sheet, this sheet isolates the information on the borgs cybernetics and lets you organize it in a way that’s easy to reference. This is an absolute must for any Borg players. I do question however the need to include three different versions of this sheet in the GM kit. The three sheets are identical, with the only difference being the illustration in the center of the sheet. Perhaps if you’re an anal player and want to use the sheet with the illustration that matches your borg, you’ll find a use for three different sheets. I’m not that type of player, so three borg sheets is a bit overkill for me.

Other character sheets are included as well. You have the standard character sheet, a mutant character sheet, a mercenary company sheet, and a traveling show sheet. And for the GM an experience log is included as well. All of these forms are identical to the ones freely available on the Palladium website. It makes sense to include these in the kit, as having all of these sheets in one PDF is handy. But just like the spell index, they are freely available so you shouldn’t by this kit just to get any of these sheets. And just to clarify the borg sheets are not available of the Palladium website, but all the other character sheets are.

There are also three different flyers for recruiting players and a signup sheet for the Palladium mailing list that you could post on a bulletin board at your local game store. Again this isn’t something I find terribly useful as I have a weekly gaming group, but perhaps some out there may appreciate a nice flyer to post to find other Rifts players at your local game store.

So far we have a variety of useful items included in the Rifts GM Kit, but a good portion of them are freely available. As such, it would hard to recommend the kit at a $5 price point. Fortunately, there is more content included besides some character sheets and reference charts.

The Rifts GM kit also includes twenty pre-generated characters. You will find a variety of OOCs and levels in the pre-generated characters spanning Levels 3-8. So you could use these as pre-generated characters in an adventure for levels 3-4 or 6-7 pretty easily. They would work great in a convention setting where you do not want to take time to created characters when that time would be better spent playing the game.

Whether or not you should purchase the Rifts GM Kits comes down to your opinion on pre-generated characters. With a good portion of the kit available for free on the Palladium website, you are really purchasing a one page reference chart, a combat matrix, a skills a weapon proficiency quick reference, a borg character sheets, some game flyers and twenty NPCs. Remove the NPCs, and the Rifts GM Kit is not worth $5. However once you include them it becomes more appealing. I personally think the kit is worth $5, but if you are the type that would never use pre-generated characters it’s hard to say this kit is a must buy. Overall the Rifts GM Kit does what it sets out to do and makes the game master’s job much easier. However with a $5 price, it comes down to the twenty NPCs. If twenty NPCs would be useful to you, then you absolutely should buy the kit. If not, save the money and pick up a back issue of the Rifter.

I prefer this over the 2nd edition. The rulebook itself is very rounded, strong resemblance to other more popular systems but also with some unique content like the Diabolist, Summoner and others. A complete system which I loved gaming with, excellent skills system.

Overall a well rounded system and not comic book like unlike other systems.

A handy little kit for Rifts GMs, the combat matrix especially and 20 pre-generated characters are always a bonus too! Perhaps lacking a little finesse, this is nonetheless good value for money and worth picking up.

The GM kit is a nice collection of 50 pages for Rifts, the majority of the pages are character sheets of various types along with some supplemental sheets. There's also a full list of spells and what page they can be found on in the Book of Magic, along with a full skill list from the GM guide. The logs and combat matrix though are really nice and those alone make it worth the purchase. Now if only the whole thing was editable.

Originally Published At: http://diehardgamefan.com/2011/08/29/tabletop-review-rifts-v-ampire-kingdoms-revised/

Here’s a fact that every horror genre afficionado knows:

There’s nothing fresh about vampires. Naturally, that doesn’t stop people from getting it on with the vampire love, sometimes literally if Anne Rice and Stephenie Meyer are any indication. Like most varieties of creative output, some vampire stories are good, and some are not so good, and some frankly, downright suck. Rifts: Vampire Kingdoms - from the perspective of a horror aficionado is passably good, but from the perspective of a gamer and sometime gamemaster, it suffers from the usual amount of problems associated with any Palladium game.

Rifts is a massive game. I’ve devoted an entire bookshelf to supplements big and small, thick and thin, and have plenty of fond memories of my ever mercurial gaming troupe cutting and blasting and smashing swathes through the multiverse, chasing whatever plot bait I put out for them. One of the first things I realized when going through literally any Rifts book is that while the books will be long on story and setting, they’ll also include a ridiculous amount of unnecessary rules. The pattern has been that the story world is lush and layered with a virtual cornucopia of elements steeped in dramatic opportunity, and then the mechanics are such that gameplay is dragged out into the street and beaten like a dog.

Rifts: Vampire Kingdoms isn’t any different. The approach is from the perspective of a report by vampire hunter Doc Reid (of Reid’s Rangers featured in the original book). It gives a rundown on who the vampires are, where they are from, how they spread and how to kill them. It makes use of tropes anyone familiar with horror, and vampires in particular, will be able to instantly recognize and appreciate. The mood Reid inspires is tense, with a hint of the sick moral craziness associated with any good horror yarn, and then it devolves into three or four pages of convoluted very specific rules about how to wack one of these nameless faceless antagonists in the heart using mallet, crossbow, and any other weapon under the sun. Now if that’s your thing and you like it when your games devolve into mathematical exercises in probability featuring dice, clandestine mathematics, and detail oriented rules, then this is for you. But if you’re like me and you play these games with the idea of telling a compelling story and scaring the crap out of your players with mood, ambiance and tragic, doomed characters, then toss out the extraneous rules and make them up on the fly when you need them. If you read just the teaser for the game, the copious amounts of rules kind of gives an idea of what the actual book is going to be like, and if Palladium’s track record holds true, then this book won’t be any different from the others. But hey, at least the vampires don’t sparkle.

A delightful excerpt to whet your appetite for this forthcoming work, consisting of a pseudo-scholarly discourse explaining the true nature of vampires in a 'popular science' article.

It covers what a true vampire actually is, how a human (or D-Bee for that matter) becomes one - in a nutshell, it's fast and it's fatal - and debunks many of the myths that have built up around vampires. Various ways of dealing with them are discussed, with commentary on how effective each method is... and how practical: whilst a stake through the heart WILL put paid to one, have you ever thought just how hard it is to drive one into a vampire's chest accurately, while he is very likely objecting to the procedure?

It's a treat to read in its own right, and if the rest of the book lives up to this standard, I'm looking forward to it!

Starting with a dramatic cover that sucks you into the excitement from the get-go, the main meat of the thing is an article about the Thundercloud Galaxy that poses far more questions than it answers (always a good thing, a good way to attract interest), and with statements like 'people are inexplicably drawn to the Thundercloud Galaxy, where they seem to meet with tragedy' is designed to get hordes of Rifts characters setting course for the place eager to find out what's going on there.

Even better for Palladium's bank balance, it will attract hordes of eager GMs looking for something new and intriguing to fill out their multiverse... and I'm one of them: given this taster I'll be looking to add this work to my (virtual) shelves when it comes out.

A good example of how to stir up interest in a new product, and a promising looking product at that.

Having a long fascination with Rifts, I thought it was finally time to check out 'The Rifter'. After examining three issues to date, I have to say that I like what I've read. The production values are the usual for Palladium (that is to say perfect layout and font for a product published in the 1980's) and the art varies from awesome to incredibly average.
However, the content is the focus. Bearing in mind that the Palladium system tries to cover all genres and styles of play, I expected variety and wasn't disappointed. The beauty here is that the material can be slightly tweaked for any setting - the articles for Fantasy can still be included in Rifts, for example.
Likewise, the real strength here is what it can add to any other game. I've seen material that I'll gladly port into my D&D, Shadowrun and Star Wars games, so this is a really good investment. The NPC write-ups are usually of a good quality with plenty of background information and motivations, so your choice of villains (or henchmen, or allies) for your next game can be as easy as picking up the right issue of 'The Rifter'.

The only caveat is to read the Table of Contents before purchasing. 'The Rifter' does do themed issues from time to time, and if they aren't your cup of tea then it's a wasted purchase.

Having a long fascination with Rifts, I thought it was finally time to check out 'The Rifter'. After examining three issues to date, I have to say that I like what I've read. The production values are the usual for Palladium (that is to say perfect layout and font for a product published in the 1980's) and the art varies from awesome to incredibly average.
However, the content is the focus. Bearing in mind that the Palladium system tries to cover all genres and styles of play, I expected variety and wasn't disappointed. The beauty here is that the material can be slightly tweaked for any setting - the articles for Fantasy can still be included in Rifts, for example.
Likewise, the real strength here is what it can add to any other game. I've seen material that I'll gladly port into my D&D, Shadowrun and Star Wars games, so this is a really good investment. The NPC write-ups are usually of a good quality with plenty of background information and motivations, so your choice of villains (or henchmen, or allies) for your next game can be as easy as picking up the right issue of 'The Rifter'.

The only caveat is to read the Table of Contents before purchasing. 'The Rifter' does do themed issues from time to time, and if they aren't your cup of tea then it's a wasted purchase. I entered this issue with some trepidation, but was pleasantly surprised that the content was not juvenile in nature. I found the characters to be quite useful and will be including them in a few campaigns I have running at the moment.

Having a long fascination with Rifts, I thought it was finally time to check out 'The Rifter'. After examining three issues to date, I have to say that I like what I've read. The production values are the usual for Palladium (that is to say perfect layout and font for a product published in the 1980's) and the art varies from awesome to incredibly average.
However, the content is the focus. Bearing in mind that the Palladium system tries to cover all genres and styles of play, I expected variety and wasn't disappointed. The beauty here is that the material can be slightly tweaked for any setting - the articles for Fantasy can still be included in Rifts, for example.
Likewise, the real strength here is what it can add to any other game. I've seen material that I'll gladly port into my D&D, Shadowrun and Star Wars games, so this is a really good investment. The NPC write-ups are usually of a good quality with plenty of background information and motivations, so your choice of villains (or henchmen, or allies) for your next game can be as easy as picking up the right issue of 'The Rifter'.

The only caveat is to read the Table of Contents before purchasing. 'The Rifter' does do themed issues from time to time, and if they aren't your cup of tea then it's a wasted purchase.

I have always had a love/hate relationship with Rifts. It represents a truly remarkable setting with enough elements to keep players returning to it for years (and still not exhaust the possibilities) married to probably one of the worst systems ever designed.

The Rifts setting is a post-apocalyptic Earth, ravaged by the arrival of Rifts, or tears in the fabric of reality which allow Dimensional Beings to intrude on Earth. Magic has returned in many wondrous and strange ways, giving you a chance to explore a post-apocalyptic/fantasy/sic-fi setting that easily incorporates elements of horror, high adventure and even Western genres. Whilst this might seem a little over the top, Rifts pulls it off with style. Even the prevailing propaganda-driven Coalition government, backed up by a military clad in death imagery is finely executed and integrated with a believable rationale for existing.

The big let down is a cumbersome, rules-heavy system that bogs every action down in multiple rolls and throws the concept of game balance out the window. A GM needs to be incredibly vigilant in this game to decide how to handle the insanely disparate power levels within a party, let alone when they begin adventuring.

Also, the GM and players need to be aware of the power creep that is evident in the supplements. As the publications were rolled out, there were a host of new OCCs and RCCs (think character classes) that ranged from the mundane to godlike in terms of the influence they can wield in a game. Likewise, the equipment suffered a similar power creep, that isn't always welcome.

On the positive, Rifts will allow you to mesh any genres together, and there will be a setting book for absolutely any taste in your group - but sometimes too much choice can be a bad thing. On the negative, you have an unbalanced, unwieldy system that is every power-gamers fantasy.

Do you want to know how it all began? Whether your interest is in the development of role-playing game publishers, game systems, or specifically in Palladium Books and their 'multiverse' ruleset that culminated in Rifts, there is a treat here for you. Back in the mists of time (well, 1981) Palladium Books published its very first game, The Mechanoid Invasion, which not only got them off to a flying start but also laid the groundwork for what was to become their house ruleset. Here, some 17 years later (this book came out in 1998), that book and its two sequels are presented in updated form, now fully-compatable with the entire Rifts megaverse and with an added bonus of some historical notes as well.

The book opens with some of those historical notes, a fascinating insight to those long-ago one-man-band efforts which over the course of time, inspiration and hard work grew into the company that we know today. In the late 1970s/early 1980s, when a lot of gamers wrote or modified systems to suit their tastes, Siembieda went a step beyond: when attempting to sell his idea to existing game companies, his gaming group talked him into going into business as a publisher for himself. Having already worked in publishing, he was aware of a new and cheaper production method, the 'perfect-bound' trade paperback, as large as other game books but not as expensive to make as hardbacks or full boxed sets; but even that was more costly than he could manage at the outset (Palladium claim the first game books in that format, but not until 1983). The discussion of production is interwoven with the game design choices that made that first product be a science-fiction epic rather than the fantasy that Siembieda mostly played, and yet the seeds were set for what developed into the entire megaverse.

The original plotline was simple, elegant and innovative. In the distant future, a remote colony of Earth settlers get attacked by overwhelming numbers of aliens, bent on eradicating these pesky bipeds. They're too far from the nearest military support to get help, so whatever they do to survive is up to them. Some did survive, against the odds, as the second book The Journey covers their solution: to hide out on their attackers' mother ship, rat-style behind panels and in access shafts... and this worked, given that the final volume Homeworld gives a glimpse of where the aliens came from, and showed that they too had problems, unconnected with pesky bipeds. That has not changed, indeed as you leaf through, the original books have been presented much as first written - although the spelling and proof-reading have improved. Notes are also provided to convert the material herein so that it may be used with other Rifts or Robotech books that you might have. Otherwise the compilation pretty much gives the effect of the original three books stuck together, rather than a major re-edit into a single coherent whole.

And so, on to that very first book, The Mechanoid Invasion. Straight in to possibly the most important part of a game mechanic, at least one with lots of combat: how do you determine how much damage a character can take before he takes a dirt nap? So here Armour Resistance, Structural Damage Capacity and Hit Points are explained in detail... and that's even before I'm told how to create a character to apply this all to! It's only after combat has been outlined that you get to find out the attributes that your character will have and how to roll them, followed by a discussion of the various Occupational Character Classes (OCCs) available - yes, the standard Palladium system of OOC and individual percentage-based skills derived from the one that you choose but developed separately is already there! However, those available are very combat-oriented, with a note commenting that although others had been considered, it did not seem likely that they would be playable given the situation... however, if heavy combat is anticipated, I think a team medic might come in handy - there's only a basic field medic-type skill given as an 'elective' (skills you can choose in addition to your main OCC 'trade' skills).

Next comes an interesting discussion of the role of experience points... even then, most available games concentrated on rewarding combat rather than planning or good role-playing, and the system proposed seeks to redress this, although it is - perhaps always will be - a more subjective exercise. With a note about how 'alignment' kept being left out of successive volumes as the original trilogy was published - perhaps it just wasn't that important! - the discussion moves on to psionic powers. Then comes a run-down on weapons and vehicles available - with the note that they are limited due to Gideon E being a 'peaceful colonisation project' (OK, so why so many combat-oriented OCCs?). This is followed by an introduction to Gideon E itself. It is a basically Earth-like planet, although hotter and with a thick atmosphere that causes irritation (at best) to anyone breathing it without a filter mask. While there are some biological notes on native species, it appears that invading Mechanoids have already defoliated much of the planet and many species have not survived. This section rounds off with some maps of Gideon E.

Then comes a chronological sequence of the Mechanoid invasion. The game is intended to start when the position of the human colonists is already desperate, hiding out in tunnels and preparing a last-ditch defense. Just to muddy the waters, we then hear that Gideon E is home to an alien race, the Rovers, who are a bunch of thieves and by and large hostile to the human colonists... at least, they rarely kill given that you cannot rob a dead mark again! Oddly, despite their primitive tribal scavenging lifestyle, they are not indigenous, although where they came from, when or how is unknown. Details of the main tribes are given, along with a few notable NPCs and details of how to generate a Rover character, should more adventurous players wish to play one.

Next comes an extensive section on the Mechanoids. Appearing as metallic constructs, each shell contains living as well as mechanical components. Here, basic information is given, that which more astute human colonists have discovered (many still think they are robotic in nature). More extensive information is contained in the Game Master's section, but characters should only discover such details during the course of the game. They are all well-designed and functional - and mostly downright unpleasant. It's not difficult to imagining loathing and hating them, even when they are not busy destroying all that you hold dear.

Next, straight on to the Game Master's Section, with all the inside information needed to run the Mechanoids... and what is a surprisingly moving summary of their origins and motivations for being what they have become. But there are more secrets to reveal, not least of which are the Ancients, the original inhabitants of Gideon E, who left a vast tunnel system behind them. There's a fair bit of detail about how these tunnels operate as a planet-wide transit system, but that's it. The end of the first book. It is up to the Game Master to take these tools provided and create from them exciting adventures, beyond the basic setting of 'Mechanoids invade Gideon E' there is nothing... and that's how I like it, no constraints, each game will be unique.

So, on to the second book, The Journey, which opens with a summary of information on game mechanics that was expounded on more fully in the first volume. This moves swiftly on to an updated timeline of the Mechanoid invasion. Things have been going from bad to worse and it appears that the Mechanoid's intent is to carve the planet into bits - literally. It's time to leave. Thus the plan to get aboard the Mechanoid mother ship is formulated.

Before they go, however, the human colonists have a few nasty surprises for the Mechanoids. Conveniently, some battle machines have turned up mislabelled as 'Agricultural Irrigation Pumps' - but these devices, called Balrog Destroyers, distribute death and destruction rather than water. Possibly too little, too late, but satisfying for the humans nonetheless. Oh, and the last remaining Ancient One popped up to lend a hand.

Next comes further information on the Mechanoids, again presented in two parts: one being what the characters might by now have discovered about them and the later part being additional information for the GM. The player Mechanoid section is followed by information and rules on new psionics, these being abilities of Level 4 which characters may well be ready to learn by now.

Back now to 'story' material in a section titled The Journey, looking at why such a desperate plan was hatched and what the characters might find when they finally penetrate the mother ship. Are they the only lifeforms scampering around like mice in the pipework? This is followed by extensive plans and specifications for the mother ship, the humans will have plenty of time during the journey to explore. There's also an interesting idea, of using a team in cold sleep whose capsules malfunctioned so that they were frozen for 200 years rather than the intended five, who wake up to find the descendants of the other humans who entered the mothership awake... could prove an interesting campaign concept, or intriguing opposition if still wishing to carry out their original mission to destroy the mother ship whatever it takes and regardless of anyone else's survival! There are also various mutants and survivors from the Rover alien race - and whoever else the GM pleases to add - to ally with or fight against, or indeed to play. Plenty of scope here... there's even a truly wierd race of energy beings who have taught some humans and Rovers to wield magic. Interestingly, this early magic system was drawn from the then unpublished Palladium RPG, and it has been modified out of all recognition since. Finally a Game Master section rounds out this second volume, with the low-down on the Mechanoids and how they interact with one another. There's also details of their computer system and other information, things characters may discover.

Straight on to the third part of the trilogy, Homeworld. Stating that some of the 'how to play' information originally presented has been omitted given that it's repeated from The Mechanoid Invasion, a selection of races which may be played is given. Mutants (from The Journey) or Rovers may also be played in this part of the game. And at last, there's finally a discussion of Alignment, which has been mentioned in passing earlier but never detailed properly! So here is the by-now well-known Palladium system based on how the individual comports himself in various situations. This is followed by some rules for insanity which comfortingly include those for curing it, when possible. Next comes a range of OCCs to chose from, along with all necessary information about skills, experience levels and so on.

The next section is titled 'Nightmare' and explains the background and current situation. After rampaging through known space, destroying humanity wherever they could find it for far too long, the Mechanoids have ceased to exist in less than a minute. Nobody knows why, or how. But some want to find out, and the place to do that is on their homeworld. No hard answers are given here: it is for each Game Master to determine, and for his players to find out. Beautifully open, again making each and every game unique.

Moving on to the starting point of this game, we meet the Nigelian Confederacy (and so discover why the races given earlier are the ones available for play!). This group, not well-regarded amongst other sentients, have placed the Mechanoid homeworld under their protection; hence they see it as their responsibility to investigate it and to this end they're hiring... and this is where the characters come in. More detail on available races, psionic abilities, starships and all manner of other equipment follow.

Finally, the Game Master section which introduces the Dionii - man-sized intelligent insects with as vicious an attitude towards humanoid life as had any Mechanoid. There's also more on the Mechanoids, and what they may have left behind them... including the explanation of what happened to them. And then it's over to you: create your adventure!

So what is presented is a sweeping epic in three parts spanning several hundred years or more. You'll need different characters for each of the three phases, and a clever Game Master will interlace connections which may not become apparent until the final die has been rolled. Here's a framework for memorable adventures, that has stood the test of time well.